Our efforts this coming fiscal year will be directed to the study of the nature of the phagocytic stimuli that induce the neutrophil to assemble and release the chemotactic glycopeptide and to quantitate its release in vivo using a receptor binding competition radioassay that we have developed; this research tool will also permit us to gain insight into the mechanism of action of colchicine in acute gout. In addition, we plan to continue our investigation of the cellular pathway(s) of neutrophil activation following cell receptor-chemotactic factor interaction. These efforts will be devoted to the characterization of the role played by activatable serine esterase(s) in the post-receptor pathway of neutrophil activation as expressed in the neutrophil function of chemotaxis and superoxide generation.